The present invention relates to a steering arrangement for missile type projectiles and more particularly artillery projectiles, rockets fired from aircraft or the ground and other related kinds of missiles.
Projectiles of this kind are steered aerodynamically by virtue of an angle of incidence, which they are caused to assume, the projectiles generally having fixed wings which allow them to gain support from the atmosphere in order to maneuver.
The angle of incidence assumed by the projectile is the result of a moment obtained by setting ailerons situated at the front or the rear of the said projectile or by deflecting the jet propelling the projectile.
In all cases, aerodynamic steering has the particular disadvantage of being restricted by the delay with which the missile assumes an angle of incidence after an order has been given by the steering system. In practice, this delay or time-constant has proved impossible to reduce to less than approximately 0.2 seconds, which entails obvious disadvantages for projectiles travelling at very high speed such as missiles. Consequently, the performance which can be expected from such a projectile in a guidance loop is limited.